Interview with Vahid Vakilifar at 53rd TIFF.
Persian filmmaker Vahid Vakilifar’s latest feature ‘Taboor’ (2012) ran in competition at the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival. This is his second feature; his first was ‘Gesher’ in 2010. As producer, screenwriter and director of ‘Taboor’, Vahid won a First Special Mention Award at TIFF. I interviewed him at the Electra Palace, Thessaloniki. Here is what he had to say.
ME: What does ‘Taboor&rsq...
Emergency statement from filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi…
“My younger brother, Behrouz Ghobadi, disappeared more than two weeks ago, and I have learned he has been detained by Iranian authorities and accused of acting against national security. My family and I are certain he is innocent and incapable of such actions. We are extremely concerned about his well-being and ...
HOLY MOTORS (2012) premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and most recently opened the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival
HOLY MOTORS:
Is it gratuitous shock-value pomp or high surrealistic cinematic genius? You decide…
A swarthy dwarfish (though not a dwarf) Parisian, ‘Monsieur Oscar’ (played by Denis Lavant), lives for the night like some kind of vampire or ancient fiend feeding off humanity’s basest Chthonic nature. By day he is a loving f...
Aki Kaurismäki is best known for his oeuvre of films including: ‘Leningrad Cowboys Go America’ (1989), ‘The Man Without A Past’ (2002), which ran in competition at Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar in 2002, and his most recent film ‘Le Havre' (2011), which ran in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Recently, Aki Kaurismäki was honored for his life achievement at the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival. On the 6th November, ...
During the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival, beloved Greek director Costa-Gavras attended the Greek premier of his latest film ‘Capital’ (2012). The film focuses on the world’s current economic situation where big business and capital are partaking in a form of economic terrorism with many conglomerate corporations controlling much of the world’s wealth resulting in the crippling of whole national economies. Greece itself has felt the repercussions of this crises and glo...
photo by Vanessa McMahon
Interview with Bahman Ghobadi
During the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi was honored for his great oeuvre of films. Five of his films- ‘A Time for Drunken Horses’, 2000; ‘Turtles Can Fly’, 2004; ‘Half Moon’, 2006; ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’,...
Stay tuned for upcoming interviews, reviews and Q & A with filmmakers of the 53rd Thessaliniki Film Festival!...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
53rd TIFF: The awards (11/10/2012)
THE AWARDS
The International Jury of the 53d Thessaloniki International Film Festival comprised of:
Thomas Elsaesser, Film theorist and academic, Germany, Jury President Laufrey Gudjonsdottir, Programmer, consultant, founding director of the Icelandic Film Center, Iceland Ole Christian Madsen, Director, Denmark Joao Pedro Rodrigues, Director, Portugal Thymios Bakatakis, Cinematographer, Greece
Bestows:
THE AW...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
53rd TIFF: Andreas Dresen Press Conference (11/9/2012)
ANDREAS DRESEN PRESS CONFERENCE
On Friday, November 9, 2012, German director Andreas Dresen gave a Press Conference as part of the tribute to his work organized by the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
Taking the floor, Andreas Dresen noted: “I am very happy to be here. I have heard a great deal about this festival from my friends in Germany and also international directors, and I h...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
53rd TIFF: Aki Kaurismaki Press Conference (11/7/2012)
AKI KAURISMAKI PRESS CONFERENCE
Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki gave a press conference on Wednesday, November 7, 2012, in the context of the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Festival director Dimitri Eipides attended. The 53rd edition of the Festival is hosting a tribute to the work of the filmmaker, screening 11 representative films from his career.
With his unconventional style and b...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
53rd TIFF: Cristian Mungiu Press Conference (11/7/2012)
CRISTIAN MUNGIU PRESS CONFERENCE
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu held a Press Conference on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 as part of the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Mr. Dimitri Eipides, director of the Festival, was present. The Balkan Survey section of this year’s edition is holding a comprehensive tribute to the director’s work; he is is one of the most important repre...
During a press conference with director German director Andreas Dresen at the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival (TIFF), he stated this about his work:
"Usually in everyday life you have to think that you have to leave something or to finish something, and that really hurts...Sometimes in my movies, because of the low budget we are improvising and shooting the scenes on th...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
JURY PRESS CONFERENCE
A Press Conference was given by the International Competition Jury of the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival on Sunday, November 4, 2012 at Warehouse C, in the presence of Dimitri Eipides, Director of the Festival. This year’s Jury is comprised of: Thomas Elsaesser, President (Professor Emerit...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
BAHMAN GHOBADI PRESS CONFERENCE 53rd TIFF
Iranian filmmaker of Kurdish ethnicity Bahman Ghobadi gave a press conference Sunday, November 4, 2012, in the context of the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Festival director Dimitri Eipides attended. This year’s edition of the festival is hosting a tribute to the work...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
53rd TIFF: Inauguration of the Thessaloniki Cinemateque (11/4/2012)
INAUGURATION OF THE The Thessaloniki Cinematheque was formally unveiled on Sunday, November 4, 2012. Part of the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, this inauguration included a tribute to “The Cinematic Life of Painting” and a special screening...
-OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE-
53rd TIFF: Opening Ceremony (11/3/2012)
OPENING CEREMONY
The curtain rose on the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival on Friday, November 2, 2012 with a simple ceremony. The opening ceremony took place at the packed Olympion Theater, with the jazz and swing rhythms of the band Milky Lady & the Cookies and the lindy hop Jitter...
WITHOUT (2011) is a haunting coming of age psychological drama about a young girl who becomes a caretaker to an old man who is practically a vegetable. In small town America almost in the middle of nowhere Joslyn has little to no internet signal and is cut off, ‘without’ any and all outside communication. She has to assimilate into this new life with her near-death patient and the provincial frustrated locals; further, she is dealing with the overwhelming loss of the love of her lif...
Director Gabriel Achim
When I met Romanian director Gabriel Achim, I asked him about his film and he said this: 'Well, if you like intellectual porn then you will like my film...' Well, what a pitch because I couldn’t wait to see it, and indeed ADALBERT'S DREAM (Visul Lui Adalbert, 2011) IS ‘Intellectual Porn’… Read below to get to first base. But to go all the way, you’ll have to see the film!
ME: why is it called ‘Adalb...
STAY TUNED for TIFF press! More coming in the days and weeks to come!!!
...
The Slovenian film IZLET (A TRIP, 2011) by writer/director Nejc Gazvoda held its world premier in Sarajevo this year at the 17th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF). The film screened in competition and was nominated for Best Film. In only four months of touring festivals, the film has been nominated for Best...
film still from 'BEHOLD THE LAMB' (2011)
The Irish film BEHOLD THE LAMB (2011) by writer/director John McIlduff walked away with the Golden Alexander for Best Screenplay at the 2011 Thessaloniki Film Festival (TIFF). As director John McIlduff had already departed the festival, the film’s producer Kevin Jackson accepted the award for him and carried it with him all night with it clasped t...
A TRIP (2011) producer Ales Pavlin
The Slovenian film IZLET (A TRIP, 2011) by writer/director Nejc Gazvoda and producer Ales Pavlin most recently traveled to the 52nd Thessaloniki Film Festival (TIFF) and screened in competition at 'Cinedays' in Skopje, Macedonia. A TRIP's 'trip' will continue to Goa, India for the Goa Film Festival and then begin its tour in the USA. It is the first feature film (of what promises to be many) for both writer/director Nejc and producer Ales.
...
photo still from 'THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD' (2011) THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD (2011) screened last week at the 52nd Thessaloniki Film Festival (TIFF) 2011. Director Joshua Marston once again impresses audiences with his one-of-a-kind filmic verisimilitude. Similar to his international hit MARIA FULL OF GRACE (2004), which was filmed in Columbia and in Columbian Spanish with English subtitles, this globe-trotting American does the same with FORGIVENESS O...
The acclaimed Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev (mostly known for his internationally acclaimed film THE RETURN, 2003) presented his latest film, ELENA (2011) last week at the 52nd Thessaloniki Film Festival (TIFF). ELENA held its world premier at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the 'Un Certain Regard' category, where it won the Special Jury Prize.-Vanessa McMahon "Elena and Vladimir are an older couple, each one from a different social background. Vladimir is a wealthy and ...
EIGHTY LETTERS (2011) by Czech director Václav Kadrnka is a day in the life of European bureaucracy in 1987 Czechoslovakia. While the mother of a fourteen year-old boy runs around town from one office to another, signing this paper and that, the boy joins her and watches with intrigue this dizzying official system of communist Eastern Europe. In one scene, the boy must run to the post office to get a stamp that is missing on the papers, this...
